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The Names of Puerto Rico

The SSA releases data broken down by state. For US territories, there’s one list for Puerto Rico and one for all of the other territories (Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands) combined. Puerto Rico gets its own list because it’s the largest territory. With about 3.4 million residents, Puerto Rico is larger by population than states like Idaho, New Hampshire, and Utah. The Puerto Rican list is consistently fascinating and usually reflects the diverse mix of cultures unique to the island. The Top 10 are as follows:

Sebastian / Valentina

Dylan / Victoria

Ian / Mia

Jayden / Amanda

Adrian / Mikaela

Angel / Camila

Luis / Amaia

Mateo / Emma

Diego / Kamila

Lucas / Sofia

As you can see, Puerto Rico’s top 10 shares very little with the US top 10. Only Emma and Mia make an appearance on both lists, though Sophia (not Sofia) is #4 on the US list.

One trend that pops up on the Puerto Rican list is the -ys ending for girls. Names that end in -ys are popular among Hispanics throughout the US (I’ve personally encountered girls named Nashalys, Ivelys, and Arielys) and that’s reflected in the Puerto Rican data:

Alanys ranks #51

Alianys ranks #55

Elianys ranks #73

Arielys ranks #96

Darielys is tied with Arielys (15 births each) but they are then ranked alphabetically, so Darielys is bumped to #98.

None of those names rank at all on the national popularity list. For boys, -iel and -ael is a popular ending:

Daniel #23

Gabriel #26

Keniel #42

Dariel #52

Michael #54

Gael #56

Ezequiel #69

Kendriel #79

Abdiel #81

Jeriel #85

Samuel #86

Jonael #94

Rafael #96

Altogether, -el names make up a whopping 13% of the top 100 for boys. Traditional Spanish names are also popular for both genders, with names like Estela, Jorge, Alejandra, Carlos, and Adriana ranking high.